1. Tell us all 3 to 5 things about you that you would like us all to know about you. This is a written version of the Business card activity. My name is Veronica Saettone, but everybody calls me Vero or Verito. I teach fifteen curious, inquisitive and very active three year olds that are turning four. GRADE EC3. I would like to share with the class:
I just got married (well, 5 months now) and I plan on waiting for babies. At least, until I finish the Master’s program.
I love my work… Every morning when I see my children, all my tiredness flies away! Even on weekends, I visit my nephews and continue with my teaching duty.
I love to travel! The idea of getting on an airplane and getting disconnected from my routine life makes me smile! I have airplane tickets for my July vacations… and I cannot stop thinking about it! Just like when my students want to meet Mickey Mouse, and they can’t stop talking about it!
2. Comment on your recent learning in our class about multiple intelligence theory or learning styles.
For me this has been a great and needed refresh about learning theories. Sometimes in practice we tend to forget on how important is to know the best way to get to your students in their own special way.
Today I really understood the difference between LS and MI… You GET new information using different Learning Styles, and you PROCESS and SHARE that info using different Multiple Intelligences
I think that with 3 year olds, you get plenty of opportunities to discover and practice various Intelligences and Learning Styles. EC-3 days are full of hands-on-activities, songs and, art, work stations, visual stimulation, stories, pretend play, block building and everything else you can imagine! By exposing them to different styles activities… you get to know that, what works better for one child does not necessarily work for another. Each child is unique, they have their own particular technique to learn and we need to be aware and respect that.
It is very important to keep track on each of your student’s preferred learning styles. The Total Talent Portfolio is a great way to do this. Actually in Elementary we have a Passing Portfolio for each student. This portfolio shows a piece of work for each content area but it is very academic. It doesn’t show their preferred learning styles or interest. It will be great to make this little change on this document for the whole elementary building.
3. Tell me on your wiki page the name of the cartoon on the Cartoon Assignment on Page 2 that you worked on.
RISK TAKERS By Alessia and Veronica
4. Cut and paste the Learning Matrix activity from page 3 on to your page and tell me which Special population you worked on.
Alessia, Alexandra, Deborah and Veronica
ADHD
Condition of the brain that makes it difficult for students to control their behavior. Affects an estimated of 4 to 12 percent of all school age children, about 3 times more boys than girls. Multitasking is a way of life for kids these days and this causes them to loose their ability to focus and have more ADHD problems. Misdiagnoses of ADHD can represent have a dozen of other problems.
The student will… -Tune out what doesn’t interest him. -Get lost going from one simple task to another. -His imaginations revs up without warning. -Doesn’t pay attention -Day dream -Have trouble with peers, problems with social cues. -Be Impulsive, they will react before thinking about the consequences for their actions.
- Try to shut down any kind possible distractions. - Make sure a written plan is near the student. - Concentrate your attention on a particular thing. - Be specific in your explanation; make sure the student knows exactly what they need to do. - Give immediate positive feedback, making sure the child knows what they did right. - Look for different alternatives before you use medication. (Relaxation strategies, etc)
5. Comment on possible advantages of having AlphaBet Syndrome. Why might nature have done this? Is there any genetic advantage to any of these special populations.
Describe an evolutionary reason why there might be an advantage to any of the special needs populations that we discussed in class.
Now a day, the Asperger's syndrome is very well known, maybe because of the increased awareness and diagnosis. Asperger people might be a positive evolutionary trend in our chain; this syndrome is simply a variant of the human condition, not a defect as many people think.
Children with Asperger are sometimes considered to have an advantage in the modern world. They are highly focused, detailed oriented, disciplined and perfectionists. When these children grow up they will tend to be workaholics and perfectionist at their work, and maybe because of that they can be the cause of the majority of progress in our world. Some famous people who have been rumored to have Asperger’s syndrome are Albert Einstein and Bill Gates... they were able to create and discover valuable things that other people were not be able to do.
But, another important characteristic of the Asperger's Syndrome is the lack of empathy and social interaction. They are missing different important social cues and this may affect their self-esteem. But in this new global world… what about Internet as social tool? Can asperger children be social, behind a computer screen? I think that with the explosion of social networking, asperger children can manage to socialize without feeling pressured. They can use Internet as a comfortable medium for communication.
6. Post a copy of your Think Tac Toe using a 3 X 3 table that is color coded. Black for Basic, Blue for mid range, Red for higher level thinking. Be sure to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop your TTT.
EC3 Think TAC TOE BOARD
Describe and compare two different plants.
Construct a plant model using play dough.
Assemble your favorite plant “model” using construction blocks (big legos)
Assemble a plant “sculpture” using reusable materials from the class.
Assemble a poster and present it in front of the class, where you can find all the parts in a plant.
Draw a flower and all of its parts using construction paper, magic markers and crayons.
Draw in a three-block table, the three steps of the evolution of a plant.
Make a flower using construction paper to tear and glue to a bigger paper.
Explain step by step the process from seed to plant.
Alessia Cuneo, Alexandra Sabal, Deborah Muhlbauer, Veronica Saettone.
7. Read the Book MI in the Elementary Classroom. Pick two activities from the back of the chapters. Implement two of these ideas into your class. Write a report of 250 (+-) words describing your activity. Be sure to tell me.
a. The age of the students and grade level
b. The Subject you teach
c. How you implemented the activity
d. How the children responded
e. Will you do this again? f. What will you do differently.
My EC3 classroom is conformed by 15 students that are almost four years old. I have 9 boys and 6 girls and they just started school this last August.
Activity No.1
The autobiography cube
By this time of the year FDR is almost finishing the first semester of the school year. The children are going out for a two-month vacation and the environment is very hectic. I wanted to use this cube as a way to make them reflect about their strengths, abilities and interests. The cube had 6 sides and each side had a very specific question.
-What are you good at?
-What would you like to improve for the next semester?
-What is your favorite school activity? (Music, PE or Library)
-What do you like doing in the playground?
-What do you like doing in the classroom?
-What do you prefer doing on working time?
I worked this activity by groups of five children at a time. They had to think about the question and then give me an answers so I could write it down. Then they would draw about their idea, so they could remember what they had told me. Before the activity I thought that they were going to have problems in understanding the questions, but they did pretty well. At the beginning they started copying ideas from each other (something very common at this age). To stop this I started asking them for their answers in a secret way, so they would not copy from each other.
The activity came out very interesting. They were able to give me good answers and you could tell that they were really self-reflecting. The questions about what they are good at, and what can they improve impressed me. They said, that they would like to improve in speaking English, in knowing their letters, in practicing their names, etc. All of this answers are part of what they are expected to master at the end of the year, so it made me really happy to know that they are aware of it. At the end of the day we sat down in our circle to see some of the differences or similarities they had in their cubes. The children were very proud of this and they were able to learn about their friend’s preferences.
As a teacher this activity gave me lots of positive feedback. Sometimes I knew what their answers would be… because I know my student’s strengths and personalities! But, there were some answers that showed me a little bit more about them. It is very important to know about their interest and preferred learning styles. Like Renzulli states “it is very important to put students in touch with engaging, individualized resources specially chosen for their interest areas and learning styles”. If I want to put this into practice I really need to research on what the students prefer and take the information directly from them and not what I think they might like. I need to keep in mind the students preferences and interest at the time I plan my lessons so the students can be 100% engaged. Engagement is the key for improving the level of achievement of the class.
I definitely will do this activity again. At the beginning of the second semester I am going to try the cube with questions about interests and preferences. This will help me keep in mind each of the students learning styles. Two thumbs up activity!
Activity No. 2
The Monster Mash
I chose this activity because I think is appropriate for young 4 year olds. Four year olds are in need of movement, taking turns, following instructions and practice vocabulary.
We sat at the circle and started talking about monsters. I told them that I had a song that monsters like, but they did not know how to dance. The children got a little scared when they heard the word monster, but then I continued the story explaining that they were good monster that just did not know how to dance. I explained them the rules of the game and asked them to say each of the movement I was doing. We needed to remember the moves, so we could make a list for the monsters.
I pressed play and started moving to the music. At the beginning I used very simple movements that they could instantly recognize and then I gave them the chance to lead the dance. When I said the name of a child that had to lead, some of them just got freeze and said they did not know what to do.
So we stop and sat down to talk about monster’s movements. How can monsters move? Some of the children instantly answered, jumping, marching, kicking, skipping, skating, etc. Every time they had a new idea the whole class had to practice the movement together and I wrote it down in the list. After we felt comfortable with the movements, I put the song again.
This second time was a lot better. The children were more secure of what they needed to do, and they all verbalized the movements that we were doing. This activity help them practice vocabulary and different movements that are hard for them (like jumping on one foot, skipping, etc.)
I think this activity is wonderful for children at this age. In the Monster Mash we are using a lot of Gardner’s multiple intelligences. The children are being intrapersonal, musical, linguistic and kinesthetic. As we learned in class, for children to learn… the learning has to be active (they are dancing and taking turns to interact), must link to emotions (they were very excited to do something different and fun), should have a context (they knew that this dance was for the good and happy monsters, so it had a purpose) and it has to be filtered by previous knowledge (they were practicing vocabulary they knew before).
In EC3 we have a unit at the beginning of the school year, about movements and body parts. For the next time, I would use this activity for this PYP unit. This activity would fit perfectly!
Assignments.
1. Tell us all 3 to 5 things about you that you would like us all to know about you. This is a written version of the Business card activity.
My name is Veronica Saettone, but everybody calls me Vero or Verito. I teach fifteen curious, inquisitive and very active three year olds that are turning four. GRADE EC3.
I would like to share with the class:
2. Comment on your recent learning in our class about multiple intelligence theory or learning styles.
For me this has been a great and needed refresh about learning theories. Sometimes in practice we tend to forget on how important is to know the best way to get to your students in their own special way.
Today I really understood the difference between LS and MI…
You GET new information using different Learning Styles, and you PROCESS and SHARE that info using different Multiple Intelligences
I think that with 3 year olds, you get plenty of opportunities to discover and practice various Intelligences and Learning Styles. EC-3 days are full of hands-on-activities, songs and, art, work stations, visual stimulation, stories, pretend play, block building and everything else you can imagine! By exposing them to different styles activities… you get to know that, what works better for one child does not necessarily work for another. Each child is unique, they have their own particular technique to learn and we need to be aware and respect that.
It is very important to keep track on each of your student’s preferred learning styles. The Total Talent Portfolio is a great way to do this. Actually in Elementary we have a Passing Portfolio for each student. This portfolio shows a piece of work for each content area but it is very academic. It doesn’t show their preferred learning styles or interest. It will be great to make this little change on this document for the whole elementary building.
3. Tell me on your wiki page the name of the cartoon on the Cartoon Assignment on Page 2 that you worked on.
RISK TAKERS By Alessia and Veronica
4. Cut and paste the Learning Matrix activity from page 3 on to your page and tell me which Special population you worked on.
Affects an estimated of 4 to 12 percent of all school age children, about 3 times more boys than girls.
Multitasking is a way of life for kids these days and this causes them to loose their ability to focus and have more ADHD problems.
Misdiagnoses of ADHD can represent have a dozen of other problems.
-Tune out what doesn’t interest him.
-Get lost going from one simple task to another.
-His imaginations revs up without warning.
-Doesn’t pay attention
-Day dream
-Have trouble with peers, problems with social cues.
-Be Impulsive, they will react before thinking about the consequences for their actions.
- Make sure a written plan is near the student.
- Concentrate your attention on a particular thing.
- Be specific in your explanation; make sure the student knows exactly what they need to do.
- Give immediate positive feedback, making sure the child knows what they did right.
- Look for different alternatives before you use medication. (Relaxation strategies, etc)
5. Comment on possible advantages of having AlphaBet Syndrome. Why might nature have done this? Is there any genetic advantage to any of these special populations.
Describe an evolutionary reason why there might be an advantage to any of the special needs populations that we discussed in class.
Now a day, the Asperger's syndrome is very well known, maybe because of the increased awareness and diagnosis. Asperger people might be a positive evolutionary trend in our chain; this syndrome is simply a variant of the human condition, not a defect as many people think.
Children with Asperger are sometimes considered to have an advantage in the modern world. They are highly focused, detailed oriented, disciplined and perfectionists. When these children grow up they will tend to be workaholics and perfectionist at their work, and maybe because of that they can be the cause of the majority of progress in our world. Some famous people who have been rumored to have Asperger’s syndrome are Albert Einstein and Bill Gates... they were able to create and discover valuable things that other people were not be able to do.
But, another important characteristic of the Asperger's Syndrome is the lack of empathy and social interaction. They are missing different important social cues and this may affect their self-esteem. But in this new global world… what about Internet as social tool? Can asperger children be social, behind a computer screen? I think that with the explosion of social networking, asperger children can manage to socialize without feeling pressured. They can use Internet as a comfortable medium for communication.
6. Post a copy of your Think Tac Toe using a 3 X 3 table that is color coded. Black for Basic, Blue for mid range, Red for higher level thinking. Be sure to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop your TTT.
7. Read the Book MI in the Elementary Classroom. Pick two activities from the back of the chapters. Implement two of these ideas into your class. Write a report of 250 (+-) words describing your activity. Be sure to tell me.
a. The age of the students and grade level
b. The Subject you teach
c. How you implemented the activity
d. How the children responded
e. Will you do this again?
f. What will you do differently.
My EC3 classroom is conformed by 15 students that are almost four years old. I have 9 boys and 6 girls and they just started school this last August.
Activity No.1
The autobiography cube
By this time of the year FDR is almost finishing the first semester of the school year. The children are going out for a two-month vacation and the environment is very hectic. I wanted to use this cube as a way to make them reflect about their strengths, abilities and interests. The cube had 6 sides and each side had a very specific question.
-What are you good at?
-What would you like to improve for the next semester?
-What is your favorite school activity? (Music, PE or Library)
-What do you like doing in the playground?
-What do you like doing in the classroom?
-What do you prefer doing on working time?
I worked this activity by groups of five children at a time. They had to think about the question and then give me an answers so I could write it down. Then they would draw about their idea, so they could remember what they had told me. Before the activity I thought that they were going to have problems in understanding the questions, but they did pretty well. At the beginning they started copying ideas from each other (something very common at this age). To stop this I started asking them for their answers in a secret way, so they would not copy from each other.
The activity came out very interesting. They were able to give me good answers and you could tell that they were really self-reflecting. The questions about what they are good at, and what can they improve impressed me. They said, that they would like to improve in speaking English, in knowing their letters, in practicing their names, etc. All of this answers are part of what they are expected to master at the end of the year, so it made me really happy to know that they are aware of it. At the end of the day we sat down in our circle to see some of the differences or similarities they had in their cubes. The children were very proud of this and they were able to learn about their friend’s preferences.
As a teacher this activity gave me lots of positive feedback. Sometimes I knew what their answers would be… because I know my student’s strengths and personalities! But, there were some answers that showed me a little bit more about them. It is very important to know about their interest and preferred learning styles. Like Renzulli states “it is very important to put students in touch with engaging, individualized resources specially chosen for their interest areas and learning styles”. If I want to put this into practice I really need to research on what the students prefer and take the information directly from them and not what I think they might like. I need to keep in mind the students preferences and interest at the time I plan my lessons so the students can be 100% engaged. Engagement is the key for improving the level of achievement of the class.
I definitely will do this activity again. At the beginning of the second semester I am going to try the cube with questions about interests and preferences. This will help me keep in mind each of the students learning styles. Two thumbs up activity!
Activity No. 2
The Monster Mash
I chose this activity because I think is appropriate for young 4 year olds. Four year olds are in need of movement, taking turns, following instructions and practice vocabulary.
We sat at the circle and started talking about monsters. I told them that I had a song that monsters like, but they did not know how to dance. The children got a little scared when they heard the word monster, but then I continued the story explaining that they were good monster that just did not know how to dance. I explained them the rules of the game and asked them to say each of the movement I was doing. We needed to remember the moves, so we could make a list for the monsters.
I pressed play and started moving to the music. At the beginning I used very simple movements that they could instantly recognize and then I gave them the chance to lead the dance. When I said the name of a child that had to lead, some of them just got freeze and said they did not know what to do.
So we stop and sat down to talk about monster’s movements. How can monsters move? Some of the children instantly answered, jumping, marching, kicking, skipping, skating, etc. Every time they had a new idea the whole class had to practice the movement together and I wrote it down in the list. After we felt comfortable with the movements, I put the song again.
This second time was a lot better. The children were more secure of what they needed to do, and they all verbalized the movements that we were doing. This activity help them practice vocabulary and different movements that are hard for them (like jumping on one foot, skipping, etc.)
I think this activity is wonderful for children at this age. In the Monster Mash we are using a lot of Gardner’s multiple intelligences. The children are being intrapersonal, musical, linguistic and kinesthetic. As we learned in class, for children to learn… the learning has to be active (they are dancing and taking turns to interact), must link to emotions (they were very excited to do something different and fun), should have a context (they knew that this dance was for the good and happy monsters, so it had a purpose) and it has to be filtered by previous knowledge (they were practicing vocabulary they knew before).
In EC3 we have a unit at the beginning of the school year, about movements and body parts. For the next time, I would use this activity for this PYP unit. This activity would fit perfectly!